Faouzi Ghoulam ( ar, فوزي غلام (); born 1 February 1991) is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a left-back for club Angers. Born in France, Ghoulam is a former Algeria international, scoring five goals in 37 appearances for the national team from 2013 to 2017.

Early life

Ghoulam was born in Saint-Priest-en-Jarez to Algerian parents. His father is from

Batna Batna or BATNA may refer to: *Batna (city), Algeria *Batna Province, Algeria *Best alternative to a negotiated agreement In negotiation theory, the best alternative to a negotiated agreement or BATNA (no deal option) refers to the most advantageou ...

, while his mother is from

Annaba Annaba ( ar, عنّابة, "Place of the Jujubes"; ber, Aânavaen), formerly known as Bon, Bona and Bône, is a seaport city in the northeastern corner of Algeria, close to the border with Tunisia. Annaba is near the small Seybouse River ...

. He has eight brothers and two sisters, and his brother Nabil is a cross country runner that represented France at the

2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2004 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 20/21, 2004. The races were held at the Ossegem Park in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', and for the IAAF. ...

Club career

On 22 September 2010, Ghoulam made his professional debut for

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

coming as a substitute in the 82nd minute of a

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

match against

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. He made his

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

debut in a round 13 clash against Valenciennes and went on to make another 11 appearances in his breakout season with Saint-Etienne, becoming a consistent starter by the end of the season. Over the next two and a half seasons, he made another 65 league appearances. In the winter of 2014, Ghoulam moved to

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Campania that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. Napoli ha ...

. He became an immediate starter at Napoli under

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who most recently managed club Everton. Benítez joined Real Madrid's coaching staff at the age of 26, going on to work as the under-1 ...

and helped the side finish in third place in Serie A during the 2013–14 season, also capturing the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

. In November 2017, Ghoulam suffered an anterior cruciate ligament rupture in a Champions League group-stage fixture against

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

, and was expected to be ruled out for at least two months; in January 2018, however, he underwent medical tests and resumed training ahead of schedule. On 31 January 2023, Ghoulam joined Angers in

as a free agent until the end of the 2022–23 season.

International career

Algérie - Arménie - 20140531 - Faouzi Ghoulam

On 18 December 2010, in an interview Algerian newspaper Le Buteur, Ghoulam said that his intentions were to represent Algeria in international competition despite being born in France. On 5 May 2011, Algerian under-23 coach

Azzedine Aït Djoudi Azzedine Aït Djoudi (born January 24, 1967) is an Algerian football manager. Managerial career From a young age (10 years), he began a football career at JS Kabylie in which he moved up the levels to reach the status of the ISTS professionnel. ...

announced that Ghoulam was hesitant about joining the team, despite the fact that he was the one who contacted the

Algerian Football Federation The Algerian Football Federation (AFF); ( ar, الاتحادية الجزائرية لكرة القدم) is the governing body of football in Algeria. It was formed in 1962 and was based in the capital Algiers. It has jurisdiction on the Algerian ...

. On 6 October 2011, after being called up to the preliminary squad of the France under-21 team, Ghoulam said that he would be really proud to play for the team. On 23 November 2012, in an interview following a league game against Valenciennes, Ghoulam announced that he was going to represent Algeria at the

2013 Africa Cup of Nations The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations South Africa 2013 for sponsorship reasons, held from 19 January to 10 February 2013, was the 29th Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized ...

. A few days later, the

confirmed the information through a press release on its website. Ghoulam was selected in the Algeria squad for the

in South Africa but he did not participate in any games. On 26 March 2013, Ghoulam made his debut as a starter in a 3–1 win over Benin in the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil. The remaining 31 places were determined by ...

, providing the assist on the first Algerian goal. Ghoulam represented Algeria at the 2014 World Cup finals as ''les Fennecs'' reached the round of 16, where they were beaten by eventual champions Germany after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

. He started in both the match against Germany and the 2–1 group stage loss to Belgium. In Algeria's opening match of the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

, Ghoulam scored his first international goal to give the team a 2–1 lead in an eventual 3–1 victory over South Africa.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ghoulam goal''.

Honours

Saint-Étienne *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Napoli * Coppa Italia: 2013–14, 2019–20 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Individual * UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2014–15 *

Algerian Footballer of the Year The Algerian Footballer of the Year is an annual football award for the best Algerian player presented by El Heddaf-Le Buteur since 2001. The first winner of the award was Olympique de Marseille midfielder Djamel Belmadi. As of 2015, only Karim Z ...

: 2017 * France Football Africa Team of the Year: 2017

References

External links

Club profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghoulam, Faouzi 1991 births French people of Algerian-Berber descent People from Saint-Priest-en-Jarez Sportspeople from Loire (department) Footballers from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Citizens of Algeria through descent Living people Association football fullbacks French footballers France under-21 international footballers Algerian footballers Algeria international footballers AS Saint-Étienne players S.S.C. Napoli players Angers SCO players Ligue 1 players Serie A players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players 2017 Africa Cup of Nations players Algerian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy